Machine for sampling cotton



Sept. 12, 1939. G. E. GAUs ET AL 2,173,071

MACHINE FOR SAMPLING COTTON Filed Oct. 7, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Sept. l2, 1939. c'. E. GAus ErAL 2,173,071

MACHINE FOR SAMPLING COTTON Filed Oct. 7, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Ime/vm E ELE' AUS R-E-MWHIRTER Patented Sept. 1.2, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT oFFlcE MACHINE FOR. SAMLING COTTON cessors in office Application October 7, 1938, Serial No, 233,772

6 Claims.

(Granted under the act of March 3, 1883,V as

amended April 30, 1928; 370 0. G. 757) This application is made under the act of March 3, 1883, as amended by the act of April 30, 1928, and the invention herein described and claimed, if patented, may be manufactured and 5 used by or for the Government of the United States of America for governmental purposes without the payment to us of any royalty thereon.

This invention relates to a new and useful method of a machine for sampling cotton and it has for one of its objects the provision of a machine designed to remove a sample portion from a cotton bat after the bat is discharged from a cotton condenser and before it is baled.

Another object of this invention is the provision of a sampling device of the type mentioned, which is adapted to be operated intermittently for obtaining an average sample of each bale of cotton by rending sections from the cotton bat without disturbing the arrangement of the cot- 20 ton fibers confined Within the section so that the 1 sections thus rended from the main portion when arranged in layers will be indicative of the quality of the ginned lint discharged from the cotton condenser.

25 The following description, considered together with the accompanying drawings, will fully disclose this invention, its constructions, arrangements, and combinations of parts and further objects and advantages thereof will be apparent.

30 In the drawings:

. Figure 1 is a side elevational view of an embodiment of this invention partly in section; and

Figure 2 is a section along the line 2-2 of Figure l.

35 vReferring with more particularity to the drawings, in which like numerals designate like parts,

the numeral 3 designates a horizontal platform supported on brackets 4 and 5, said platform having a central opening 6, preferably rectangular, and approximately the size of the sample desired to be obtained. The top surface of said platform 3 is provided with recesses or grooves l, substantially as shown. Directly above said platform 3, a holding member 8, substantially identical in shape to the platform member 3, is disposed and has bordering ridges 9 on the bottom thereof complementary with the recesses 1. Vertical posts are secured on the holding member 8, A vertical plate is slidably'mounted on said posts IIJ and springs I2 are compressibly mounted on said posts I0 between the holding member 8 and the plate I I. Within the aperture of said holding member 8 a platen I3 is normally disposed and is secured to the bottom of vertical rods I4. Said rods I4 extend upward through and are secured to the plate II. Said rods also extend slidably through the bracket I5, terminating above said bracket and secured to a horizontal bar Il', substantially as shown. The bracket I is secured to a cross-bar I6 of the machine. A lever I8 iS pivoted by means of a stud pin I9 to a frame member 20 of the machine and it is connected to a link 2| by means of a slotted connection consisting of an arc-shape slot 22 in said lever I8, slidably engaging a pin 23 secured to the upper end of said link 2|. 'Ihe lower end of said link 2| is pivoted to the bar member Il. A spring 24 is tensionally mounted between the ends of the opposite and shorter arm of the lever I8 and the frame member 20 beneath the pin IS. Another lever 25 is cofulcrumed with the lever I8 and carries a pin 26 slidab-ly engaged with a slot 2l longitudinally disposed in the link 2|. The other arm of said lever 25 is pivoted to one end of a short link 28, the other end of said link having a slot 29 longitudinally disposed. A substantially Z-shaped lever 30, or any other suitable offset lever, is pivoted at its upper vertex below the pin I9, substantially as shown, on the frame member 20. The outer end of the upper horizontal arm of said lever 36 is provided with a pin 3| which is slidably engaged in the slot 29. Near the pin 3|, one end of a tension spring 32 is fixed, the other end of said spring being secured to the member 20. A platen 33 having a centrally raised portion substantially congruent to the platen I3 is normally disposed beneath the platform 3, the central portion just fitting through the opening 6 so that it is flush with the top surface of said platform 4. vertically slotted guide links 34 are secured to the bottom of the side of the platform 3 nearest the frame mem- Aber 2U. Pins 35 attached to the platen 33 are slidably and pivotally disposed in the respective slots of said links 34. On the center of the bottom of the platen 33 a bracket 36 is secured and it is pivoted to one end of a link 31, the other end of said link being pivoted to the outer end of the lower arm of the lever 30. An adjustable abutment screw 38 is mounted on the member 23 to limit the return movement of the lever 30.

The operation of this invention is as follows: The lint cotton in continuous bat form is passed through the machine between the platform 3 and the holding member 8. At desired intervals the lever I8 is pressed downward which has the effect of clamping the bat between said members 3 and 8. As the lever I8 is further pressed downward, the platen I 3 exerts a force on that portion of the bat coextensive with the top portion of the platen 33, at the same time forcing that portion of the bat, together with the platen 33, downward. This has the effect of tearing or rending this portion from the rest of the bat held between the members 3 and 8, the recesses l with their complementary ridges 9 preventing any slippage. When the platen 33 has been pushed down to the point where the pin 35 abuts the bottom of the slot in the link 34, the lever 25 is then pressed downward. This causes the platen 33 to pivot about the pin 35 into a vertical position permitting the sample obtained to fall. The purpose of the slot 29 is to maintain a denite play between the link 28 and the link 3U, so that within the limits of this play, the spring 32 can exert an independent upward force against the bottom of the cotton bat which, together with the force being exerted on the tcp oi said bat, a denite gripping action is obtained. If desired, this gripping action may be made more effective by providing ridges and complementary recesses in the platens i3 and 33, similar to those employed on the members 3 and 8, respectively. When the levers i3 and 25 aie released, ail parts oi the machine return to their normal initial position by virtue of the action of the springs I2, 2li and 32. By repeating the action above described at diierent intervals oi the cotton bat, the samples torn from the bat are deposited in layers, the one on top of the other, giving as a unit an average sample of the bale of cotton which is indicative of the quality of ginned lint discharged from the cotton condenser.

Having thus described our invention, we claim:

l. A cotton sampler machine comprising a horizontal support having an aperture therethrough, means for clamping the bordering edges of an area oi cotton bat on said support, means independent of said rst-inentioned means for clamping substantially the remaining portion of said area between platens, means for co-reciproeating in clamped relation said platens with respect to said support until the bat portion clamped between said platens is rended from said area.

2. A cotton sampler apparatus comprising a horizontal support having an aperture therethrough, means for clamping the bordering edges of an area of cotton in bat form on said support, a platen disposed beneath said support having a portion thereof substantially coextensive with said aperture, another platen disposed above said first-mentioned platen adapted to clamp the margins of a section of said bat area on said rstmentioned platen, said section being coextensive with said aperture, means for co-reciprocating in clamped relation` said platens vertically with respect to said support until the section of the bat therebetween is rended from said bat area, and means for revolving said first-mentioned platen to a substantially vertical position.

3. A machine of the character described comprising means for intermittently clamping the opposite sides of a portion of lint cotton in bat form, means for clamping the opposite sides of a section of said portion, means for rending said section in clamped relation from the remaining portion of the bat, and means for discharging the section so rended from the apparatus.

4. A cotton sampler machine comprising a horizontal support having an aperture therethrough, means for holding a portion of a bat of cotton on said support, means for clamping the opposite sides of a section of said bat portion substantially coextensive with said aperture, and means for tearing and separating said section in clamped relation from the remaining portion oi the bat.

5. A cotton sampler machine comprising a horizontal support having an aperture therethrough, means for clamping the bordering edges of an area of cotton bat on said support, means independent of said first-mentioned for clamping substantially the remaining portion of said area between platens, means for co-reciproeating in clamped relation said platens with respect to said support until the bat portion clamped between said platens is rended from said area, and means for discharging the portion so rended from the machine.

6. A cotton sampler apparatus comprising a horizontal support having an aperture therethrough, means for clamping the bordering edges of an area of cotton in bat form on said support, a platen disposed beneath said support having a portion thereof substantially coextensive with said aperture, another platen disposed above said first-mentioned platen adapted to clamp the margins of a section of said bat area on said firstmentioned platen, said section being coextensive with said aperture, means for co-reciprocating in clamped relation said platens vertically with respect to said support until the section of the bat therebetween is rended from said bat area, means for revolving said rst-mentioned platen to a substantially Vertical position, and means for discharging the rended section from the apparatus.

GEORGE E. GAUS. RUSSELL G. MCWHIRTER. 

